Hansel and Gretel
by Lizzy Faller
Summary: based off a Children's play that i performed/directed. set in the future. what happened to Hansel and Gretel after defeating the Witch?


AN: this story is based off of a play that my school had performed not too long ago. It's the tale of Hansel and Gretel, the same that everyone has heard of, two kids go into the forest, happen across a gingerbread house and afterwards kills the witch that tries to eat them. But in the play version that we had to act out, the witch had two assistances. They help Hansel and Gretel escape, and end up being adopted my Hansel and Gretel's father in the end. Also the two assistances, Rasputin and Dizzy, take the witch's treasure and gives it to their new family so now they aren't poor anymore, but can now live happily….well this story came to be after I was making fun of the play….basically I was saying how weird it would be in the future for Hansel and Gretel…... Hope you guys like it, R&R.  
thanks, LIZ.

Chapter 1

Gretel sat on the porch of their cottage and stared out into the forests that lead towards the nearby village. She hadn't put up her long blond hair up into braids yet, so it fell softly over her shoulders and to the middle of her back. It had been five years since the day that she herself had pushed the witch into the oven and saved her brother Hansel and her from a painful death. Gretel smiled when she thought about what else she had gained from that day. Two new brothers and her family's fortune back.  
Her step mother had stalked around the house for the first few months, begging her husband to spend the new found money on a house in the village, so that all six members of the family could be seen in grandeur, but Gretel's father had stayed firm in wanting to keep the children in the simple life of the cottage.

"What are you doing?" a voice behind Gretel shouted. "I doubt you've finished your work."

Gretel turned to see the redheaded women that she had always known as her stepmother. "Um, I was just taking a break." Gretel lied. She had completely forgotten that the laundry had to be done along with mending up her father's shirt. She stood and faced her stepmother on the porch. "I think I'll get back to that now."

"Best you should." Her stepmother scoffed. "And put your hair up before suitors see you."

Gretel sighed. She was only seventeen, and yet there had already been several boys from the village who had come out to her home to court her. She wasn't interested in any of them. She was too busy to worry about marriage and the responsibility that came with it. She and her stepmother had to take care of four men already. But lately she hadn't seen many come around, for which she was grateful.

"It surprises me that you aren't married yet." He stepmother went on as Gretel hung the wet clothes up on the clothes line. "Do you want to be an old maid? If you don't act now, you'll never get a husband."

"Maybe I don't want a husband yet." Gretel said quietly. "Maybe I want to stay here." She looked back at her stepmother.

"Stay here?!" the women's voice showed signs of irritation. "What is here that you couldn't find anywhere else? Do you want to disgrace this family with your decision to not marry?" Gretel's stepmother crossed her arms and huffed. "Maybe you're just not trying hard enough to like those men; maybe you want your father to die of shame."

Gretel hung her head. "Alright, I'll try harder." She ran her fingers through her hair and began to braid her hair for the day.

She watched as her stepmother walked away triumphantly, and knew that that conversation wasn't going to be the last one she would have with her on this subject this week.

"Gretel!" a voice called from down the forest path.

She turned to see a tall and slim boy with a bag draped over his shoulder. His shoulder-length black hair bobbing up and down as he walked towards her. He waved to her as he got closer.

"Ras!" she called back, forgetting about her chores. She quickly ran to him and gave him a large hug.

Rasputin was Gretel's adopted older brother. He had just started an apprenticeship at the local meat market; something that Gretel and everyone else in the family knew was beneath him. Rasputin had a brilliant mind, one that would be better used if he were a doctor or a teacher.

"You don't have to be so happy." Rasputin hugged her back. "I was only gone for the day."

"But stepmother has been driving me crazy." Her voice was muffled as she moved her face against his neck. Not caring that half her hair was braided. "She keeps going on about marriage."

"How about we run away together," Rasputin joked. "That way stepmom will stop talking."

Gretel blushed violently, and started to braid the other side of her hair. "We couldn't do that, what would father think?" Gretel really didn't care about it though; she had started to grow feelings about Rasputin just a year ago.

Rasputin had broken away from the hug and began walking with Gretel towards the small cottage. "You won't believe what happened today." He said. "Dizzy came to me at the meat market today between his classes." Rasputin explained. "He told me about a girl that is in his arithmetic class."

Gretel turned her head to him. "What?"

Rasputin nodded his head. "My little brother's growing up so fast." He smiled.

"Well, what did he say?" Gretel urged on.

"He said to me. 'I don't know what it means, when I look at her my heart pounds like crazy and I can't concentrate on anything else but her.'"

"Oh. That's adorable." Gretel replied.

"Yeah, he asked me what it was called. I told him it was called an infatuation, and he said something that was so Dizzy, he said, 'should I get that checked?'"

Gretel joined Rasputin in laughter.

"Hello there Rasputin," Their stepmother called from the front porch. "I see you've come home early."

"It was a slow day that the market. No one comes on a Wednesday." Rasputin walked up the steps and held his bag to his chest. "I brought home some meat though. I'll put it in the cellar." He walked passed his stepmother and into the house.

"Isn't he such a sweet boy?" stepmother asked.

Gretel rolled her eyes and walked to the clothes line. "Yes, stepmother."

"And he has grown quite handsome." She went on, following Gretel and started to clean a pair of socks by the wash board.

"Yes, quite." Gretel unclipped the dry clothes from the line before sitting and folding them.

Stepmother sighed in frustration. "What on earth is taking that boy so long?! Gretel, go down to the cellar and see."

Gretel took a deep breath before putting the clothes down and walking into the house.

"Ras," Gretel called into the house. "Are you done yet?"

When there was no answer Gretel walked into the kitchen and down the steps into the cold cellar. Gretel rubbed her arms to keep herself warm, she looked around the large room of meat until she saw Rasputin kneeling on the floor.

"Ras?" she called again. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Huh?" Rasputin turned quickly.

There in front of Rasputin, Gretel saw a small pot with boiling liquid inside, she knew that this had nothing to do with preparing meat or anything else of this world.

"Gretel, don't be mad." Rasputin stood up and walked to her. "I just…needed some practice that's all."

"Practice for what?" Gretel started backing away. "Why would you need magic anymore, you have us now."

"Gretel I…." Rasputin stopped. "I can't tell you."

"But we never keep secrets from each other." Gretel said. "Why's this so important? What's the spell?"

"It's nothing." Rasputin started to turn. "Nothing you'd understand."

Gretel reached out and touched Rasputin's shoulder. In a quietly calm voice Gretel said, "explain it to me."

"It's to…lure certain people away," Rasputin paused. "People that I feel aren't…deserving of you."

"You're the reason why." Gretel said under her breath. Her head turned back up at Rasputin's. "Why would you do that?"

"I would think it quite obvious." Rasputin said. "Gretel…from the day that I met you, I've been in l---"

"Gretel!" the horrid voice of their stepmother rang through the cellar. "Come up here quickly, there is a man here to see you, a very _rich_ man."

Gretel turned to Rasputin and gave him an apologetic smile. "Maybe next time when we are alone again, you can finish what you were saying."

Gretel left Rasputin in the cellar as she ascended the stairs and saw a handsome man standing in the middle of her family's living room.

"Gretel, this is Raphael, _Prince_ Raphael."

Gretel looked up at the tall man, took in his beauty and splendor. His hair was long and the color of copper, his teal eyes gazed down upon her. Gretel could feel her legs weaken as she stared at him.

Rasputin looked around the corner and stared and Gretel and her new suitor.

_I've done the things I did, because I love you._ Rasputin thought to himself_. I only wish that you would feel the same. _


End file.
